Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Dad tackles Smile Starters Dentist

It doesn't look like things have changed any under the so called new management at Smile Starters in North Carolina.  (BTW, it's still under Michael DeRose control)

Here is a comment I got just two days ago.

My friend took her son there for his first dental visit and has vowed never to return. She managed to witness the staff attempting to restrain her infant son into a straight jacket, which they said was needed to keep him from moving and potentially injuring himself. Then she checked a little later and the doctor had a fist inches away from her sons face at which point her husband tackled the doctor and she grabbed her son. They are suing.

6 Must Read Comments:

Anonymous said...

These stories seem terrible. I am a present employee of Smile Starters and have been there through all the name changes. First I must say that NO,parents don't go back with children because the children do behave better and work can be done safely without a child turning their head to look for Mommy while a drill is going 50 RPM's in their mouth. As a parent myself I know I would have a hard time watching my child with a bloody mouth especially if I was ignorant to what exactly was going on. We must do as much work as allowed because most of our patients don't recieve the dental care at home that they need. It is hard enough to get them in for a cleaning let alone treatment. There are parents who think it is absolutely normal to have black stubs as front teeth. Some parents even think it is okay because the teeth will come out anyway. When you see a three year old who has pulp exposures and abcesses on twelve of the twenty teeth they have, the parent should be looked at by social services for neglect, not the Dental team giving treatment. Surely most of our parents do take the time to care for their child and only visit us every six months for cleanings because they are doing their job!! I applaud those parents!! I applaud those parents who will get off their cell phones long enough to listen to our consults and post-ops. I applaud those parents who realize it is not okay to drop their kids (as young as two) off at the dentist office while their child gets dental work done while they go to the mall or go get lunch. I applaud the parents who have taught their children how to behave so their child does not need to go in a papoose board(straight jacket as one parent said) so that the patient isn't hurt or slapping or kicking or spitting on the staff. We Thank You!! Now don't think I haven't seen problems. There are still treatment plans I disagree with. But our treating Doctors will not render treatment that they disagree with. Scheduling does put pressure on the staff to do "rush" jobs at times. Some parents do have to make several appointments for minimal work. But take a poll and I am sure the unhappy parents could not fill the room you are sitting in at this moment. While the pleased parents fill our offices daily.

Anonymous said...

I also agree. Until you are in the staff's shoes then you need to take your opinions elsewhere. You have not had to see these children come in with their teeth infected and their parents not caring why they are like this. They do drop off their kids and not come back for hours at a time. I agree with you totally and know that WE ARE doing the RIGHT thing. Maybe not every Doctor is operating like they should but why punish everyone for some offices problems. Do not lump everyone together because there IS a need for clinics like ours, regardless of what you think.

Anonymous said...

What a bunch of bunk these two previous comments are!
Small Smiles id capitalizing on the Medicaid sysyem and the neglect and ignorance of parents!
It is disgraceful that such rampant dental disease id still occurring in this country. Educating these paents of these children is the key to stopping this nonsense. They do not deserve Medicaid really. Nobody at Small Smiles practices prevention dentistry and education. And the parents very often just do not give a damn!
This talk about having parents in the rooms is meaningless. One can not do a proper job when rushed by the stress of a child squirming around in all types of manners- regardless of the restraints. That is why so many procedures that are provided at Small Smiles fail in a short period of time. So them noy\t only do they get reimbursed by Medicaid for the first procedures- they get paid for the extraction of those teeth with failed procedures.
Do not fool yourselves! SMall Smiles and places like them are just milking the huge Medicaid pool that is fueld by the tax dollars of normal working people; and by the extreme ignorance of the people who are spitting out children in to the medicaid system one after the other.
We need Medicaid reform! Not having silly discussions about the pros and cons of having a parent in a treatment room.

Anonymous said...

I work for a company you have blogged about. We are not a melting pot of Medicaid Dental offices. We do not use restraints within the company I am employed with. We do not do unnecessary treatment in my office. In my office we will not force anything....not even an x-ray. If we can not treat the patient we refer the patient to an office that can. There is abuse in the private sector as well.Why are you only blogging on office that accept Medicaid. Is Debbie Hagan a former Small Smiles/Kool Smiles employee?

Anonymous said...

If it's true that this actually did happen at Smile Starters, I wonder which office it was that was involved? If it happened in the town where I live, they are keeping it VERY hush-hush. I think it's curious that just after this blog appeared, a dentist suddenly left Smile Starters. HMMMM... another instance where the Smile Starters "management" has managed to lie to the public about its legal problems and pretends that everything is fine in their corporation. Why am I surprised????

Anonymous said...

Regardless of past experiences the staff at a Dental Clinic have had with patients is NOT my concern. My concern is my child. If it is my child and my tax dollars paying for the dental care, my life that I have put on the line for the defense of our country multiple times, then I or my wife will be present. If some provider tells me or my wife we cannot be present, there will be HELL to pay.